Cream or Sugar
by Illusionsfire76
Summary: A one-shot story of sibling rivalry between Garrus Vakarian and his sister Solana. Written for an art exchange meme with greenmamba5.


**This is for greenmamba5 art exchange meme. I promised to write this for her in exchange for her absolutely wonderful, awesome sketch. She gave me the scenario of Garrus & Sol sibling rivalry and this is what I came up with.**

CREAM OR SUGAR

He arrived at the C-Sec office to find Chellick already occupying his half of their large desk. They had only been with C-Sec for about a month and Garrus was already beginning to find it a bore. He regretted listening to Chellick talk endlessly about how great it would be to work on the Citadel. They had spent the last 3 years of Basic together and become good friends. Even though it was clear that Garrus enjoyed the 'kill' far more than the 'hunt', as it were; the two of them complimented the other's strengths well and made a great team both on and off the field. When the time came to choose how to best to cultivate their respective careers and earn their place in the meritocracy, Garrus wanted to continue on with the military but Chellick convinced him to work with him at C-Sec. The arguments with his father over his resistance at joining C-Sec were getting progressively worse, so to placate Chellick and shut his father up, he went to work at C-Sec. He figured if it didn't work out, he could always go back to the military.

He sat down at his half of the desk with a huff and stared at Chellick.

"If you don't start showing up on time, Pallin is going to kick both of our asses. I'm getting tired of covering for you Garrus," Chellick grumbled without looking up from his datapad.

"Hey, it's not my fault you don't have a life and I do. You're the one who said it would be so great to work for C-sec. You haven't been out once since we've been here," Garrus retorted.

"The only reason I haven't been able to get 'a life', as you put it, is because I've been picking up the slack so we don't get our asses chewed," Chellick snapped back.

"Okay, okay," Garrus put up his hands in surrender, "how about I make it up to you?"

"I'm listening." Chellick put the datapad down on the desk and folded his arms in anticipation.

"Sol is arriving today to do her Citadel training session," he paused, watching Chellick's brow plates quirk up in interest. He knew that Chellick always had a thing for his sister even though they never really talked about it. "We could swing by around lunchtime and…" he trailed off.

"Yes!" Chellick chirped before Garrus could finish the thought and then looked embarrassed, caught in his own eagerness.

Garrus just chuckled and turned to face the terminal. He scrolled through his messages to see if there was anything of interest. Most of them were the usual mundane Citadel complaints and disputes but there were a couple that caught his eye.

The first was from Pallin, sent at 0800 this morning. The time he was supposed to be C-Sec, instead of meandering in at 0805.

_Time: 0800  
RE: Punctuality_

Vakarian,  
Please refer to the Employee Reference Manual Chapter 1, Section 5, Line 20 regarding expectations for all C-Sec personnel. If you have any questions, please respond to me and refrain from amending the Rule List.

_Executor Pallin_

The second was from Sol.

_Time: 0700  
G-  
They're giving us a mid-day break today but it won't be long enough for me to pick up that scale itch cream for Kalros. Can you pick it up for me and bring it by?  
Thanks!  
S_

Another message pinged in and Garrus opened it.

_Time: 0830  
RE: Councilor Udina Complaint_

Vakarian,  
Councilor Udina has lodged a complaint against Spectre Saren Arterius. Please take Chellick with you and interview the Councilor.

_Executor Pallin_

"Hey Chell, let's go!" he said to his partner still engrossed in the datapad. Garrus got up and pushed in his chair. When Chellick didn't move, he kicked his foot, "What are you reading?! The latest issue of Fornax? Let's go!"

That did it. Chellick flustered for a second; his subvocals trilling out indignation while he hurriedly tried to jam the datapad into his desk drawer, "Where are we going?"

"I'll tell you on the way," he said while trilling back something akin to _'Busted!'_

About three hours later, they arrived at the Turian training center and were waiting for Sol to appear. Chellick was beside himself with anticipation and Garrus wished like hell that he would keep his hormonal hum in check. The sound was really beginning to irritate him; it was his sister after all.

_You'd think he never got laid,_ he thought and then remembered the Fornax rag in Chellick's desk, _Wait…_

He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when Chellick's hum turned into a quick chirp and he followed the line of sight to see Solana talking to some of her fellow officers a little ways from them. Before he could move, Chellick was already a couple steps from her. He heard the cursory trill of appreciation from her friends when they saw Chellick approach.

_It has to be the uniform,_he thought shaking his head as he made his way to sister and would-be suitor. He pulled out the tube of cream he'd picked up from the pharmacy on the way.

"Here you go Sol," he said handing it out to her.

"Oh great! Thanks for the picking that up. Hopefully it'll take care of the itch," she hummed gratefully,

Garrus caught the horrified look that washed over Chellick's face before he could hide it; making a mental note to ask him about it when they left.

"My friends and I are going to grab something to eat. Do you guys want to come?" she asked ignoring her brother and looking at Chellick.

Garrus huffed, trilling at Sol _…sex starved…_

"Shut up, brother," she sweetly hissed.

"Thank you for the invitation, Solana but we… uhm… have to report back to C-Sec," Chellick hummed nervously, taking a large step back; distancing himself from her.

"Oh okay, I'll see you tonight then!" she chirped happily and walked back to her waiting friends.

Garrus looked over at Chellick with a quirked brow plate waiting for an explanation.

"What's tonight?"

"I…uh… asked Sol out for dinner…" he stuttered with a nervous hum, mandibles clicking.

"So what's the problem? I thought you wanted to go out with Sol," Garrus asked with an edge to his voice. He didn't particularly care for his partner & friend to go out with his sister. Chellick was quite the smooth talker and never took females seriously. He chased every supportive waist and pretty fringe in basic – including their squad leader. Now it looked like he was regretting asking his sister out? _What the hell?!_

Chellick didn't answer right away or stop his nervous hum as they made their way back to C-Sec. He looked back at the common area and then nervously at Garrus and swallowed hard.

"Uhmmm….wasn't that scale itch cream you picked up at the pharmacy?" he asked hesitantly, afraid that he was about to piss off his friend.

Garrus stopped. His mandibles twitched and he fought the urge to knock Chellick on his ass for what he was insinuating. Then he realized exactly what Chellick was thinking and fought the new, over-powering urge to burst out laughing.

"Yeah. What about it?" he growled, his undertones threatening a challenge.

"Nothing! It's nothing! Forget I asked," Chellick trilled; backing off.

"Good. Let's get back to work before Palin gets his fringe in a knot," Garrus grunted.

The next morning…

Garrus got up early, deciding to attempt to get to work on time. He figured he better let Pallin cool down. The last thing he needed was his father breathing down his neck about respect and honor and following the rules that were in place for a reason and blah, blah, blah…. He sighed heavily; not particularly thrilled at another day of driving a desk. After he got dressed and ready, he made his way to the kitchen. His mandibles flared as he did a double take when he rounded the corner and was met with the searing glare of Solana's cold blue gaze.

She was seething with silent fury as she leaned against the counter in his small kitchen.

_"What – the hell – did you tell Chellick, Garrus?"_she growled out; her talons tapping out a sharp beat on the counter.

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment Sol?" he retorted evenly, walking past her and taking a mug from the cabinet.

She ignored his question and simply glared at him as he made his way around her in the kitchen, waiting for an answer.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Sol," he said finally, now sipping on the hot, thick, coffee-like substance from his mug.

"Really?" she huffed, "that's what you're going with?"

He was silent; taking another sip and staring at her for an explanation.

"Fine," she grunted and folded her arms across her chest, "Dinner with Chellick was a disaster! He sat as far away from me as possible all through dinner, barely said_anything_, and top it off; he wouldn't even take me back to my hotel! I had to catch a transit!" she spit out, "What the hell did you say to him?!"

Garrus couldn't hold it in anymore and finally burst out in a wild, torrent of flanged laughter. His mandibles whirled and twitched so much they began to ache. Finally, after a couple of minutes he managed to contain it to somewhere between snorting and chuckling with an occasional bark of laughter he couldn't rein in. He took a healthy sip of his mug and huffed trying to compose himself before Sol decided to introduce him to her fist. She would be a formidable adversary now that she had been in a basic for a few years; no longer the weakling of a little sister he picked on as a child.

"Nothing, Sol. I didn't say anything. He did it all on his own," he tried to explain in between chuckles.

"What does that mean? 'He did it all on his own.'" She snapped.

"I mean that he drew his own conclusions. Yesterday, before we met up with you we stopped at the pharmacy to pick up that cream you asked for. He knew what kind of cream it was… and when you said…." He trailed off unable to finish the sentence; laughter erupting once more.

_"…hopefully it'll take care of the itch,"_echoed in her head and her eyes grew wide as the realization of what he thought dawned on her.

"By the Spirits Garrus!" her voice growing louder, "I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS! YOU_LET_HIM THINK THAT!" she roared, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

Garrus was laughing so hard, he sank back against the wall; knees buckling and slid down. His knees bent, arms thrown over them; the only evidence of his laughter was the quick rise and fall of his shoulders as he gasped for air. He never heard her tirade or the roar that it ended with as she threw her own mug against the wall near his head where it shattered; splattering the contents all over the wall. After a few minutes, his laughter died down to a controllable chuckle and random snort. He collected himself off the floor and looked around realizing that she had left. He walked back over to the counter where he left his mug and finished its contents in one healthy swig. Looking at the time on his omni-tool, he realized he was going to be late for work – again, but it was totally and completely worth it; mandibles flaring into another wide Turian grin.

By the time he got to work, he was feeling decidedly odd. His mandibles didn't feel quite right and his tongue felt a little weird. It would have to wait until he got to work to check it out since there was no time to stop by the clinic. Parking his transit, he entered his entry code for his office and scanned quickly for Pallin. Breathing a sigh of relief he quickly approached his desk and nonchalantly sat down.

"I told you Garrus," Chellick started, looking up from his datapad, "I'm not -" he stopped; staring at Garrus in disbelief; trying desperately to contain a huge grin that threatened to break at any second.

"Wha-" Garrus started and then began to panic when he couldn't form the word.

He clicked open his omni-tool; calling up the live video feature. His eyes grew huge as his mandibles went slack and jaw hung open at the image that stared back at him. His tongue was huge and hanging out; swollen and bright blue, barely able to fit into his face not allowing his mandibles or jaw to lay correctly.

_SOL!_ His mind roared! _She did this!_

He called her up on his omni-tool – class be damned. He wanted to know exactly what she did to him. She must have been expecting his call because she answered almost immediately. He saw her cover face with her taloned hand, trying the hid her grin and contain her laughter at her brother's face that gaped back her. He tried to say something but it came out completely incoherent and she burst into a fit roaring laughter. After a few seconds, she was still snorting but able to look at him as he waited for her to explain.

"Brother," she snorted, "it seems you have a problem. Oh wait, how was your coffee this morning? Did you like it? I made it especially for you! Yes, I did. I even added a little levo sucrose as a special treat," she purred. "Oh don't worry, it's not fatal but it's definitely going to make your mouth sore for a couple of days after the swelling goes down. I wouldn't go near any varren any time soon if I were you; they might get the wrong idea. A word of advice, brother, don't screw with my choice in mates. I figured out your little joke last night and straightened Chellick out," her mandibles twitched suggestively, confirming her insinuation and he glared at Chellick. She clicked at him, drawing his attention back to her, "Payback's a bitch, brother," she smirked terminating the call.


End file.
